


Code: MARS

by swagnushammersmith



Series: 50,000 Words [5]
Category: The Martian - All Media Types, The Martian - Andy Weir
Genre: Alternate Universe, Code Lyoko - Freeform, Code Lyoko AU, F/F, F/M, M/M, NaNoWriMo, One Sided Beth/Melissa, Pining Beth Johanssen, Teleportation, This was intended to be more beckwatney than what actually turned out, but that's ok bc i love this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-04
Updated: 2016-12-04
Packaged: 2018-09-06 14:02:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8755390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swagnushammersmith/pseuds/swagnushammersmith
Summary: Melissa and Robert Lewis were the directors of the MARS Research Initiative, a project which would hopefully lead to the development of teleportation. However, as with any scientific endeavor, they were met with some bumps in the road. Written for NaNoWriMo.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much to [CerinityKS](http://archiveofourown.org/users/cerinityks) for beta reading and enabling this thing that grew way bigger than what I intended for it to be dear lord. This is the longest one-shot I've ever written. Sometimes you just get random ideas in the middle of the night and then they turn into 6000+ word things.

“GODDAMMIT!” Beth Johanssen slammed her fists down on her desk. “We were _so_ close!” She slammed her fists again and again, punctuated with another chant of “Goddammit.”

 

“Beth,” Rich Purnell finally spoke up from beside her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Please don’t beat yourself up. We’ll get it for sure next time.”

 

“We should have it _now_!” She let out a frustrated groan and slammed her fists again. Everyone else in the room flinched back.

 

“Beth, Beth, Beth,” Rich soothed, “Let’s just meet the others downstairs before you break something.” He rolled her chair back and held out his hand. She took it reluctantly and got up.

 

“I wasn’t hitting any of the computer stuff.”

 

“I meant one of your bones.”

 

Beth took one more look at the computer. “Sorry Melissa,” she whispered before exiting the room, the automated door shutting behind them.

 

Beth and Rich were employees of NASA, the world’s leading innovator of technology. NASA’s latest leading project was an unusual one for any tech company: It was a rescue mission, and Beth and Rich were key members of the team assembled for the rescue of Melissa and Robert Lewis.

 

Years prior, Melissa and Robert Lewis submitted a proposal to NASA to research the potential of virtual reality environments. Beth was there from the beginning; the initial research and development of simulations led to something more substantial.

 

\---  
**3 Years Prior**

 

“Robert and I now have reason to believe that the development of virtual reality environments can lead to actual teleportation,” Melissa explained to Mitch Henderson, the Director of Research at NASA. 

 

The Director was taken aback. “What led you to that conclusion?” Mitch asked.

 

“Well,” Robert began, “what we want to do is effectively ‘virtualize,’ or actually bring people into our virtual environments. By translating every piece of information of the human body into a piece of code, they can exist in the virtual plane.”

 

“Taking that one step further,” Melissa continued, “If we can transport people in the virtual world from one fixed point on Earth, who’s to say that they can’t transport out of the virtual world at a different fixed point?”

 

And Mitch’s eyes widened. “If this is successful, you could effectively put commercial flight out of business.”

 

Melissa chuckled. “It’ll take at least a decade for the full thing to be developed. There’s a lot of risk involved that the world isn’t quite prepared for.”

 

“Risks? Such as?” Mitch asked.

 

“For starters,” Melissa explained, “the translation of organic matter into a virtual plane is a process that needs to be perfected before anything else. Every possible piece of information about the human body needs to have a corresponding piece of code for the virtual plane. Considering the billions of possible types of human bodies, translating all of those possibilities can take decades alone.

 

“If there was a single piece of information that didn’t have a corresponding code to translate to the virtual world, the program would either refuse to transport the person altogether, or only transport the pieces that could be translated. That would not be fun going in or coming back, Mitch.”

 

“Furthermore, there’s a possibility that, once someone is in the virtual plane, that their information could get glitched if the proper protections weren’t installed, or if they encountered a virus, or some other factor were in play,” Robert said. “The information that comes into the virtual plane needs to be the same information that exits the virtual plane. If someone’s information were to be altered in some way, they’d either be stuck in the virtual plane, or would exit it very differently from how they entered.”

 

“Once we get a baseline for the translation program developed, we plan to develop a program that can learn to create codes for human information that we couldn’t begin to fathom.”

 

“So, you mean to say, an artificial intelligence,” Mitch clarified. “Which poses another risk.”

 

“Yes, it would,” Melissa admitted. “But we’re prepared to set halting protocols in place should anything bad happen with it.”

 

“Do you have anybody on your team that has any first-hand experience with artificial intelligence?” Mitch asked.

 

“We do, in fact,” Melissa said, pulling some files and handing them to Mitch. “Rich Purnell will be leading the development of the AI. He’s already been successful in developing AI programs for other companies’ purposes, ranging from butlers to land rovers.”

 

“Well then, I do appreciate the update on the research,” Mitch said after glancing at the files handed to him. “Please do continue to update me, and keep up the excellent work.” He stood, and shook both of their hands.

 

\---

 

The development of the virtualization technology took agonizing months of trial and error. Translation of the most common traits found in humans to complex virtual code was helmed by Beth.

 

The virtual world’s creation was the easiest part, but was still a long process directed by Melissa and Robert. The world, modelled after the planet Mars, had four sections, or “sectors”: Desert, which took up most of the virtual world; Polar Ice, of which there were two on each of the poles of the world; and the MantleCore, which was placed within the other three sectors. The MantleCore was the least consequential of the sectors, and its only purpose was to be a foundation for the other sectors.

 

Once Beth finished the translation process, the time came to build the technology to transfer organic life into the virtual world. And while that happened, Rich spent arduous hours building the artificial intelligence.

 

“What’s it like?” Beth asked one day, whilst attempting to merge the translation codes with the AI. “Creating artificial intelligence?”

 

Rich looked at her and smiled cheekily. “It’s like having a surrogate child,” he answered, “without the pain of childbirth.”

 

Beth chuckled. “Because I’m sure you know all about that.”

 

“It’s no walk in the park; sleepless nights, constant stress, and the dream of something great coming out of it.”

 

“Morning sickness?”

 

“Loads,” Rich said in a heartbeat. “Somedays you wake up with a heavy hangover because you’ve earned the drinks you had the night before, dammit.”

 

Beth shook her head. “Do you ever name them?”

 

“Oh always,” Rich said. “I think if you’re gonna create something that can cognitively think, it’s gotta have a name.” He paused for a moment. “I’m gonna name this one FOVOS.”

 

“FOVOS?” Beth asked. “Like the Martian moon?”

 

“I mean, the world’s gonna look like Mars, so why not?”

 

“I mean… I guess.” And then a notification popped up that the translation codes _still_ wouldn’t merge with the now-named FOVOS. “Your child is refusing to learn, Rich.”

 

“Nah, they just need a little persuasion, and a different approach to being taught,” he said, typing a series of commands. “There, it shouldn’t take longer than five minutes.”

 

And then soon enough, it did merge. And then testing began.

 

As per usual scientific methods, smaller creatures were used first to test the virtualization process, allowing them to tweak their programs after every unsuccessful test. Once they successfully virtualized and rematerialized a Great Dane, Melissa felt it was time to test the process on humans. And she and Robert were to hopefully be the first to travel to the virtual plane.

 

The day that it happened, they took a moment to congratulate and thank their team.

 

“I know it’s been a long, tiring, stressful process,” Melissa said. “I just want to thank you all for your hard work. You’ve all done something amazing here, and I’m glad you could take our vision to this point. I want to thank Mitch Henderson for providing us all with this opportunity. And I hope that we can bring this bad boy into completion!”

 

Everyone was all smiles, especially Beth. Working with Melissa had been quite the pleasure, and the opportunity she was given had brought along a challenge to create something that she never had before. And the way that Melissa led the project, all confidence and no bullshit, that was something that Beth admired.

 

Admired… in more than one way. Beth sighed to herself. She knew that she shouldn’t, Melissa was married! And to her lead partner in this project! It sucked, because Beth learned a lot about her own capabilities (and desires) in this journey. But she couldn’t let that be the focus right now, she couldn’t, she --

 

“Now let’s transport the first humans into the virtual plane!” Robert called, and everyone in the room applauded and took their positions. Melissa and Robert held hands as they walked downstairs to the scanners. Beth painfully smiled at the sight before turning to her post. Rich turned to her with an unspoken sympathy in his eyes. She was a little thankful for the comforting hand on her shoulder, but whatever feelings she had needed to be pushed aside, as she had the most important job on this side of reality.

 

Her view turned to the monitors displaying the Scanner Room. Melissa and Robert stood before the scanners and looked lovingly into each other’s eyes as they continued to hold hands.

 

“I’m so proud of you,” Robert whispered, leaning his forehead against Melissa’s.

 

“I’m so proud of you, too,” Melissa whispered back. “I love you.”

 

“I love you, too, Melissa.” He leaned in for a soft kiss. Beth hid her mouth behind her hand to pretend she wasn’t dying a little on the inside. “We couldn’t have made it this far without the other.”

 

Melissa smiled. “I’ll see you on the other side.” And then they turned to the scanners. “We’re ready,” she announced.

 

“Alright, enter the scanners,” Beth commanded, and they did, waving at each other before the doors closed. The virtualization process could officially begin. “Scanner, Melissa,” Beth spoke as she quickly typed commands into the supercomputer. Everyone else at their posts watched the readings on their screens carefully, praying (some of them to gods they didn’t believe in) that this would work.

 

“Scanner, Robert.” The scanners hummed and vibrated as they read over the bodies of Melissa and Robert. “Transfer, Melissa.” More commands were typed into the supercomputer, prompting the machines to translate information about their bodies into virtual code. 

 

“FOVOS is picking up on information that we didn’t anticipate!” Rich called with excitement. “It’s ready!”

 

This was it. “Virtualization,” Beth finally said, pressing the enter key.

 

And Melissa and Robert’s bodies felt a thrust upward as they travelled to the virtual plane.

 

Everyone held their breath as they watched the screens, waiting.

 

A few seconds passed in an eternity. “Oh no,” Beth whispered to herself when no indication of Melissa or Robert showed on the screen.

 

But then someone shouted, “I see them!” and Beth frantically searched the screen until there they were suddenly, in the Desert Sector.

 

“Can you guys hear me?” Beth asked into her communication microphone.

 

“Loud and clear,” Melissa responded, and everyone applauded the success. “We are officially in the virtual plane!”

 

“How does it feel?” Beth asked.

 

There were a million answers to that question, Beth realized. For Melissa, Robert, for herself, for Rich, for everyone involved.

 

“It’s…” Melissa started, as she looked down at her hands, and realized she was dressed in a completely different garb than she was on Earth. “I feel so… accomplished.”

 

“It’s devoid of any warmth here,” Robert added. “It’s not cold, but… I literally don’t feel anything in here.”

 

“I’m thinking of all of the new possibilities now. Teleportation doesn’t feel like a pipe dream anymore. It’s… It’s really possible.” And Melissa broke down into tears of joy. Robert held her instinctively, the fact that all sensation was nonexistent on the virtual plane not having fully sunk in.

 

“Beth, look at the map,” Rich said suddenly, pulling Beth out of the haze of victory. She pulled up the dynamic map screen. Two dots next to each other indicated Melissa and Robert’s presence. 

 

What struck them as odd was a third dot approaching them.

 

“What the hell?” Beth muttered, typing in commands to gather a reading on what could be approaching them. Nothing conclusive came up, however. And the dot was still moving.

 

“I tried asking FOVOS for a reading on what it is, but there’s no response,” Rich said, worried.

 

“Melissa, Robert,” Beth called. “We’re gonna need to rematerialize you now.”

 

“Why?” Melissa asked. “We only just got here an-- EUUGGGAAAHH! ROBERT!”

 

Beth quickly switched back to the regular view on the screen to find Robert getting carried away by a strange white light. “What the hell is that?”

 

“MELISSA!” Robert shouted.

 

Beth frantically typed in the commands to rematerialize Robert, but was met with an ERROR message. She took a sharp breath, figuring she was too jittery, and tried again. ERROR again. “Damn it!” she cursed. “Melissa, stay where you are, I’m going to rematerialize you!” She typed in the commands for Melissa, and once again, ERROR. “Why won’t anything happen!” She yelled. 

 

“Beth, please calm down,” Rich said, reaching an arm over to soothe her.

 

She slapped his hand away. “I’m trying to figure this out, just let me think!” Robert was still getting carried away by the weird white light. It would surely come for Melissa if Beth didn’t think of something fast. She searched around the map in a panic, for something, anything that Melissa could at least hide in until they figured out what the hell was going on.

 

And then she noticed it; a tall structure that looked almost like a candle with a red air around it. That could possibly work.

 

“Melissa, do you see that tall white structure northwest of you?” Beth asked into her comm mic. 

 

Melissa looked around for a moment until she spotted it. “Yes!”

 

“Run to it, see if you can find a way inside.”

 

She didn’t have to tell her twice. Melissa ran, wishing she could do something to help Robert. But adrenaline guided her to her own safety.

 

“If someone can figure out what the hell is happening,” Beth called out to no one in particular, “that would be fantastic!”

 

The tower was getting closer to Melissa now. She was almost there-- she tore her sight from her soon-to-be sanctuary when lasers blasted past her head. She looked behind-- there were cube-like creatures on spindly legs running towards her. What the hell? How was this--?

 

“Beth!” Melissa shouted. “I don’t know what these things are or how they got here, but they’re shooting at me!”

 

Beth looked down in horror. “Just keep running, get to safety, dodge them!” she commanded.

 

“Yeah, thanks, I was considering doing none of that,” Melissa said, sarcasm evident. She made it to the structure, and ran around, searching for an opening. “There aren’t any entrances in this thing!” She smacked around the base of the structure frantically, hoping for some hidden door. There were no doors, however, with a decisive smack on the structure, her hand phased through. She pulled back, took a deep breath, and charged inside.

 

The inside glowed blue, and was hollow, and Melissa stared in awe around her.

 

“Melissa?” Beth asked. “Are you there?” 

 

“Yes, I made it inside,” she said, looking back. “And it looks like whatever was chasing me can’t follow me in here.”

 

Beth sighed a sigh of relief. “At least you’re safe for now. We still have a location on Robert but we don’t know what took him. I tried to materialize you both but for some reason ERROR messages kept popping up. Do you have any theories on why that might be?”

 

Melissa took a seat in the platform that stood in the center of the tall structure. “I do,” she said sorrowfully, and took a deep breath. “Whatever that white light that took Robert away is, glitched our virtual codes, and now we can’t get back until it’s fixed. The same information that comes in needs to be the same information that comes back out.”

 

Beth looked at Melissa and Robert’s readings in the system, and her theory was correct. “How could this happen? The only things that should be in this system are you, Robert, and--” and she gasped in realization. “FOVOS.” 

 

“You mean to say that the AI was the white light?”

 

“Yeah, and it looks like Rich created a problem child.”

 

“Don’t go blaming me, I am an excellent parent,” Rich said.

 

“I’m not blaming the rap music,” Beth said.

 

“What do we do now?”

 

\---

 

The research project transformed into a reconnaissance mission, and Beth and Rich unwittingly found themselves at the helm of it. Mitch Henderson approved whatever funding was necessary for the rescue, much to the chagrin of other higher-ups at NASA. Higher-ups such as the Chief Administrator, Teddy Sanders.

 

“You can’t just throw money at this research project without informing me!” he reprimanded. 

 

“We can’t just leave them in the virtual plane with a rogue AI!” Mitch said sharply.

 

“You should have considered that possibility _before_ you greenlit this project.”

 

“I _did_ , but their developer has had loads of success with creating AIs before!”

 

Teddy sighed. “Look, bottom line, Mitch, is that I can’t keep this money flowing to one project. There are other projects that we need to move forward, and that can’t happen if you’re just throwing money into a glorified video game without informing me.”

 

Mitch huffed. “Understood,” he said.

 

\---

 

**Present Day**

 

“Please stop beating yourself up over this,” Rich said as he and Beth descended the elevator to the Scanner Room. “We’ll get it next time.”

 

“There shouldn’t be a next time!” Beth whined. “We were so close!”

 

“We _will_ get it next time Beth,” Rich repeated, as the doors opened to the Scanner Room.

 

The rescue mission was an endeavour that had lasted for months at this point.

 

It started with figuring out first and foremost how to fix Melissa and Robert’s codes so that they could be rematerialized. Melissa found that she could access information about the virtual reality (now designated MARS) from within the tower structure. 

 

Somehow FOVOS had managed to create these towers all throughout MARS and activated them so that it had more independent reign on MARS. They all had roots interlocking in the MantleCore. Why it decided to do this, no one could fathom.

 

But the only way to fix Melissa and Robert’s codes would be to deactivate these towers to debilitate FOVOS. All thirty-two of them.

 

Another problem surfaced, however. FOVOS damaged Robert’s coding so much that he would “glitch” to a different location on MARS at random intervals. Once the towers were all deactivated, Beth would have to be swift in rematerializing them both. If they both weren’t in the same sector, it would take longer for the rematerialization process, and who knows how long (or short) it would take for FOVOS to reactivate the towers and glitch their code again.

 

To help fight off the dangers of MARS that FOVOS created, a team of guardians had to be put in place. A well-balanced team that had to endure intensive training and have each piece of information about their bodies delicately translated. On top of doing all of that, Beth created programs to supplement their skillsets. Weapons, vehicles, battle garb.

 

This was a long, frustrating process. And she’s had to endure it three times over. Every team up to this point had quit due to FOVOS’ artificial wrath.

 

This team, the ARES3, was the last hope for Melissa and Robert.

 

The scanners opened up before Beth and Rich.

 

“You know what would be great,” called the voice of one Rick Martinez, “is if we had some sort of healer on our team to extend our life points so that we can defend a bit longer.” Another scanner opened up, revealing Chris Beck. “Oh, right, we do! I almost forgot because he spends so much time shielding Mark’s ass!”

 

“Please stop,” Chris said, clearly aggravated. “You have a vehicle that can absorb damage for you. Mark is a close-combat fighter, we’ve been through this!”

 

“Arguing will solve nothing,” said Alex as he exited his scanner. “We need clearer communication among our team if we are to be successful.”

 

“Deutschland is right, guys,” said the last member, Mark, as he exited his scanner. “I’m not worth fighting over. Though I must admit I’m very flattered by the attention.”

 

“Guys,” Beth said, exasperated. “You’re a highly trained combat team, so start acting like one.”

 

“Sorry boss,” Mark apologized.

 

“Alex is right, though,” Rich said. “I’m surprised that you guys don’t have more cohesive coordination.”

 

“It’s not our fault,” Rick said. “I think we were a bit rushed going into this mission.”

 

“We had no choice but to hit the ground running,” Beth said. “You all knew going in that we had a deadline to meet, and if you hadn’t noticed, it’s creeping up fast!”

 

“Chill out, Beth, we’ll get it done,” Mark said, holding up his hands in defense.

 

“Are you sure about that? Because at the rate you’re all going, I have huge doubts.” Beth choked out a sob before running back to the elevator and hitting the up button, leaving everyone else in awkward silence.

 

“You guys,” Rich finally said after a minute, breaking the silence, “really need to work on strategy. There are literal lives at stake.”

 

Mark huffed. “Yeah,” he conceded. “I can see that now.”

 

“I would hope you of all people would, Mark. Beth vouched _hard_ for you in the recruitment process. Because she believed in you that much. You’re her friend for crying out loud.

 

“And look, I’m tired, but Beth is fucking exhausted. She’s been through this since the beginning, and she had to watch the woman she loves get trapped in that virtual prison!” Rich realized what he had just said, and gasped. “Shit.”

 

“Look, let’s,” Chris started, trying to find the right words. “Let’s just all get some rest, work on a strategy in the morning, and we’ll for sure nail it tomorrow. Okay?”

 

Everyone hummed their agreement. 

 

“I’ll go apologize,” Mark said, pressing the call button for the elevator. 

 

“That would be the thing to do,” Rich said. Whether it was to himself or to Mark, no one could really tell.

 

\---

 

Mark walked down the hall to the Beth’s dorm, a meal for two in his hands. He carefully balanced the tray in one hand so that he could knock on her door with the other.

 

“Beth?” he gently called out.

 

“Go away Mark,” was the response he was met with.

 

“I wanted to apologize,” he said. “I know some not-cool stuff happened back there, and, well I’m sorry.”

 

He was met with silence.

 

“Listen, I brought up some food for you, thought you might need it. At least eat something so that I know that you’re okay.”

 

A few seconds passed before he heard footsteps approach the door. It slid open a moment later, revealing a disheveled Beth Johanssen. It was clear that she had been crying. She sighed. “Come in,” she said half heartedly.

 

Mark walked in hesitantly, as there was no light on in her dorm. “Do you have a light in here or are you a vampire with night vision?” he joked.

 

“Oh shut up,” she said, friendly banter underlying her response. “It’s not my fault I’m more evolved than you.” She did turn on a light for him, however.

 

“Thank you!” he said, and he set the tray gently on her bed. “Here, have something. You need to keep your brain power at max capacity.”

 

Beth sat down at her bed, taking a piece of toast from the tray. Mark stood beside her. “I don’t know how much more my brain can take,” she said. “It’s been going like this nonstop for almost a year straight now.”

 

“It shows,” Mark said, and Beth looked up at him, wondering if she should be insulted. “I mean, I haven’t seen much of you since the research started in the first place. And I finally get to spend some time with you after so long when I could get recruited into this damn program.”

 

“Mark, I--”

 

“Don’t apologize, not for my sake,” Mark said. “You’ve been doing incredible work, Beth. It just breaks my heart to see you work yourself raw like this.”

 

Beth fiddled with the toast, not making eye contact with Mark. “I have to.”

 

“But you don’t, Beth.” Mark put a comforting hand on her shoulder. 

 

“But I do.”

 

“Why? Because you blame yourself that Melissa’s trapped in there in the first place?” Shock entered Beth’s eyes. “It was never your fault.”

 

“But somewhere along the line, I know I could have done more, but--”

 

“But you’re doing more now,” Mark assured.

 

Silence fell between them. Mark mentally urged Beth to at least nibble on her toast, but it just sat in her hands.

 

“Did Rich tell you?” she asked quietly after some time.

 

“Let’s just say that it was pretty easy to tell.” Beth’s face fell. She finally bit into her toast, thinking. Mark smiled. Small victories. “The team all promised to work harder to work together tomorrow. We _will_ get it this time. I promise.”

 

Beth picked up the tea mug and sipped. “Maybe after this, I should take a break,” she decided. “I _have_ been wearing myself too thin.”

 

“That a promise?” Mark asked, encouraging.

 

“Yeah,” Beth nodded. “I think I’ll vacation to… I don’t know. Sao Paulo?” She shrugged. “Let loose. Move on.”

 

Mark kneeled down to hug Beth. It took her by surprise, but once it processed in her brain, she hugged back.

 

“We’ll get this tomorrow, Beth,” Mark assured.

 

“Thanks Mark,” she sniffled. “If I promise to go to Sao Paulo, can you promise me something?”

 

“What?” Mark asked, not breaking the hug.

 

“When we get through this, can you stop ogling Chris from a distance and just ask him out already?”

 

And Mark pulled away from the hug then, looking her square in the eye. “Who told you?”

 

“Oh please, Mark,” she chuckled. “You’ve stared at him like, ‘Yeah, I wanna hit that,’ since you were in training.”

 

“Oh my god.”

 

“Seriously, if he turns you down like an asshole, I’ll beat him up.”

 

“Thanks, Beth.” He sat down across from her on the bed, taking a piece of toast for himself.

 

“I’m sure it won’t be bad though.”

 

“We’ll see.”

 

\---

 

Late into the night, Beth quietly walked out of her dorm, and descended the elevator to the Supercomputer Room. She put on her headset and made quick work of logging in.

 

“Melissa?” she whispered. “Are you there?”

 

“I’m here, Beth,” Melissa responded, her face popping up on the computer screen. She was taking shelter from within a tower at the moment. 

 

“I’m sorry that we couldn’t get you out today,” Beth apologized, leaning on the desk.

 

“You made your best effort, Beth. Besides, this is a scientific effort.” Melissa shrugged. “Science wasn’t meant to be easy. We’ll get it right eventually.”

 

Beth sighed. “For your sake I hope we get it right soon. It’s…” her voice wavered. “Mitch told me that NASA was gonna cut all funding to us at the end of the month if we don’t get you out by then.”

 

Melissa gasped. “I…”

 

“It’s horse shit, I know. They shouldn’t let you and Robert be casualties so easily.”

 

“I mean, I guess I understand why they would. But on the other hand, I don’t want to die in the virtual world. I am still human.”

 

Beth hummed, her head cradled by her hands. “What do you miss most about being here?” she asked.

 

“Well, a lot of things,” Melissa said. “The simple pleasures; a cup of coffee in the morning, the smell of a rainy day, my iPod.” Beth chuckled. “I guess I mostly miss having people around all the time, and not because of dire circumstance. I miss Robert…” Beth pretended her heart didn’t wince in pain.

 

“If it kills me, Melissa, I will get you out of there. That’s a promise.”

 

A hopeful look drew itself on Melissa’s face. “Thanks. I believe in you, Beth.”

 

And Beth smiled. An idea popped into her head, suddenly, and she reached for her phone in her pocket. She plugged it into a USB cable attached to the Supercomputer, and pulled up her music.

 

“It’s not the most convenient method, but, hopefully this can tide you over until we get you back out here,” she said. “I Will Survive” by Gloria Gaynor echoed throughout MARS, and Melissa clapped her hands with joy.

 

“I love this!” she squealed. “Thanks so much, Beth, you’re a good friend.”

 

Beth smiled as she cradled her head back into her hands, and watched Melissa dance around gleefully around the tower.

 

\---

 

Beth awoke the next morning with her head on the desk of the Supercomputer, and a thermos of coffee waiting beside her. She grumbled and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

 

“She awakens!” It took a moment for it to process in Beth’s brain that it was Rich that said that. “Sleep well?” He asked her, now sitting beside her.

 

“I’ve had better nights,” she said, reaching for the coffee.

 

“Let’s hope you’ve brought your A-game!” she heard Mark say from behind, too chipper for the morning. She swiveled around her chair to see the rest of ARES3 there with him, nursing their own coffees. Except for Alex, he was sitting in a meditative position on the ground, earbuds in his ears. “By the way, your phone was still playing music when we got in here, I stopped it for you.”

 

Beth blushed noticeably. Dear god, she hoped Melissa didn’t hear anything embarrassing.

 

“ _Anyways_ ,” Rich said, standing up. “While you were happily snoozing, we came up with a strategy!”

 

“Good!” Beth said. “Let’s hear it.”

 

The strategy was simple in theory; everyone would work to deactivate the towers in each sector. There were thirty-two total; eight in each sector, including the MantleCore. They would each be virtualized to different locations on MARS and work to deactivate the towers, eventually meeting at the central point in the MantleCore. Alex would be on his own since he was the strongest individually; Mark and Chris were teamed up since Chris was the healer of the group and Mark was the melee specialist; Rick would be paired with Melissa to protect her. 

 

The plan was easily made more difficult with the prospect of FOVOS sending its creatures after them to ensure that they failed their mission. They all knew to expect that looming danger, but it was tough to gauge what FOVOS would send out, and how many. It would be easier to deal with the more towers they deactivated, since the towers had a direct effect on FOVOS’ capabilities. However, they all still had to be careful.

 

Of course, Beth and Rich would be the eyes in the sky, taking the wheel where the ARES3 could not.

 

“We all set?” Rich asked. Everyone voiced their assent. “Good, make your way to the scanners.”

 

Everyone got in position. Beth and Rich adjusted their headsets and logged into the system. 

 

“Melissa, which sector are you in?” Beth asked. “I’m going to send Rick to you.”

 

“Desert Sector, by Olympus Mons,” Melissa said. 

 

“Hang tight, we’re gonna get you out of there today,” Beth said confidently as she ritually typed in commands on the keyboard.

 

The virtualization process was underway. Rick was sent to the Desert Sector, Alex to the North Polar Ice Sector, and Mark and Chris to the South Polar Ice Sector. The instructions were clear; whoever finished deactivating the towers in their sector first would be sent to another sector to help the others. This would be achieved by a program called the Transport Orb.

 

“Virtualization.” Beth pressed the Enter Key, and prayed that the mission would not fail this time.

 

Dots appeared on the Global View on the MARS Map, indicating ARES3’s arrival.

 

“I’ll send Alex and Rick their vehicles,” Rich said.

 

“Good, I’ll send the other two,” Beth said.

 

Alex got his Mechanical Wings, Rick got his hover scooter, Mark got his motorcycle, and Chris got his hoverboard.

 

“Alex, if you remain in the sky and remain discreet, you should have an okay time avoiding the creatures,” Beth delegated.

 

“Ja, roger,” Alex said, and he made his way to the first tower.

 

“Rick, I installed a shielding program in your hover scooter so that you’ll have an easier time avoiding damage,” Rich said. Rick thanked him as Melissa hopped on the scooter with him.

 

“Launching a program to countdown the number of activated towers on MARS,” Beth said, pulling it up. As soon as she pulled it up, the display changed from “32” to “31.”

 

“Just got one!” Alex called out.

 

“Good, let’s keep up this pace, people!” Rich ordered.

 

The creatures didn’t take long to roll in, coming in strong numbers in the Polar Ice Sectors.

 

“Oooh, looks like FOVOS threw us a surprise party!” Mark quipped. There was a handful of Blocks and Hornets waiting for him and Chris, and the creatures charged, guns blazing.

 

Fortunately, Chris and Mark had ammunition of their own. Mark halted his motorcycle and used the forward momentum to thrust himself forward and stab a Block in the eye with his sword. Chris materialized shields to deflect the laser shots of the creatures back at them.

 

“Not to pressure you guys, but it’s best to make quick work of these creatures,” Beth called from above. “FOVOS is fortifying defenses to the towers everywhere and it’s not looking like it’ll be fun for you.”

 

“Got it,” Chris said, deflecting a shot from the last of the Hornets in the batch. 

 

Mark finished off the Blocks in a show-offy maneuver of flips and sword swipes, then hopped back on his bike, winking at Chris. 

 

“We’re closing in on our first tower!” Rick called out. “Aaaand we have a welcoming committee.”

 

The adrenaline pumped through everyone. If anyone felt any exhaustion, they weren’t showing signs of it. The high pace had to be maintained in order for the mission to succeed.

 

The payoff was increasingly evident with every tower that was deactivated. Beth gained a more consistent read on Robert’s location when the number of active towers dropped to twenty-three.

 

“Robert, can you hear me at all?” Rich asked. No answer. “Robert!”

 

“Let’s get more towers deactivated and see if it has more of an effect,” Beth said.

 

Mark and Chris were the first to finish off the towers in their sector, so they were sent to the Desert sector to help. It was a vast expanse on the virtual plane, so understandably that would be the one that would take the longest to deactivate.

 

“Hey Chris,” Mark said, as they waited for Beth to send the Transport Orb to them. “We’re goin’ from the Polar Ice Sector to the Desert Sector, right?”

 

“Yeah?” Chris said, confused.

 

“You know what this means?”

 

“We’re hot, then we’re cold, we’re yes, then we’re no!” Mark sang, and Chris groaned.

 

“That doesn’t even make sense!” Chris said. “We can’t even feel anything in here, first off. Even if we could--”

 

“Now’s not the time to be serenading Chris with Katy Perry, Mark,” Beth said, hitting the Enter key. “Chris, don’t worry about things making sense with Mark. That’s just the fate you have to accept with him.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll save my rendition of ‘Peacock’ for later,” Mark said, winking. Chris blushed, and put his head in his hand as the Transport Orb descended upon them.

 

\---

 

Everyone was exhausted.

 

“You’re doing great, guys,” Rich said. “One more sector.”

 

Beth took a giant swig out of her thermos of coffee. “Chris, heal up everyone that needs it even the tiniest bit,” she commanded. “I’m gonna refill your supply of arrows, Alex, and then when you’re ready, I’m sending the Transport Orb over to take you to the MantleCore.”

 

“How’s your read on Robert?” Melissa asked, worried. 

 

Beth sighed. “We can’t still communicate with him, but we figure that will be fixed once the last eight towers are deactivated.”

 

“He does seem to maintain a presence in the North Polar Ice Sector when he glitches to a new location, so we have a consistent location at least,” Rich said.

 

A silent prayer was said amongst everyone as they prepared to travel to the MantleCore sector. 

 

“Deep breath, everybody,” Beth said. “FOVOS has an army waiting for you.”

 

“We’re ready,” Melissa said, determined.

 

Beth hit the Enter key, sending the Transport Orb to them. It descended upon the ARES3 crew, and scooped them up from their position in the Desert Sector.

 

A heavy silence fell over everyone as they stood inside, waiting for the chaos that awaited them in the MantleCore. Solemn looks were exchanged by everyone, the fragility of the mission at this point clicking in their minds. They were so close now. They couldn’t afford any wrong moves.

 

Melissa sighed. “No matter the outcome today,” she said, breaking the silence. “I just want you all to know that I’m grateful for your efforts.” A tear fell down her face as she smiled. 

 

“We’re glad to do it, Melissa,” Rick said, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder.

 

“I just want you to know Melissa,” Beth said from above, “that it has been a true honor working alongside you.”

 

“Thank you Beth, and thank you, Rich,” Melissa said. “I’m truly sorry that you got dragged into this mess.”

 

“Nonsense,” Beth protested. “It’s all in the name of someo- ahem, something I love. The advancement of science. No matter the outcome today, we’ve made progress.” A sniffle could be heard from above. Mark knitted his eyebrows in worry for Beth. Above, Rich rubbed his arm comfortingly on Beth’s back. He was surprised when she gripped him in a hug, and cried into his shoulder, not caring that the headset flew off of her head. Nonetheless, he returned the embrace.

 

“Is everything okay up there?” Chris asked from inside MARS. “We heard a loud crashing noise.”

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Rich said. “We just… we just had a little headset fumble, nothing to worry about.” Beth sniffled again, pulling away from Rich, and rubbing her eyes. Rich pulled the mic away from his face and whispered, “If you want me to handle it from here, I understand, Beth.”

 

“No, it’s fine, I can do it,” she said, picking up her headset and replacing it on her head. “Okay guys, sorry about that. When you get to the MantleCore, remain in your formations. I’ll send you each the coordinates for the towers you’ll go to. Alex, you’ll be on the farthest end of the MantleCore. Chris, Mark, I won’t have you too far away from Rick and Melissa.” She typed in commands, sending the coordinates. “Get ready, because a storm’s a brewin’.”

 

The Transport Orb descended, dropping them in the MantleCore Sector.

 

As the Orb pulled away, it slowly revealed the MantleCore environment, with its dark orange glow, rock formations and valleys surrounding them. The ARES3 crew turned around, and before them stood rows upon rows of creatures that FOVOS had waiting for them. They didn’t immediately start their attack, however. The ARES3 and the creatures were in a stand-off, waiting to see who would crack first. All that was missing from the scene was theical stereotyp wind and tumbleweed.

 

But then Alex jumped, immediately spreading his Mechanical Wings and zipping as fast as he could away from everyone. The creatures shot their assault into the air at Alex, and the rest of the ARES3 took their chance to clear some of the front lines out.

 

Beth sent the rest of the vehicles down, and everyone hopped on. Everything moved in a blur, as if they all hopped onto a moving bullet train. 

 

Rick blindly shot lasers from his hover scooter at the creatures in front of him, Melissa gripping tight behind him. Mark and Chris were back to back, moving as Chris held his shields in front of him, and Mark deflected shots from creatures with his sword. All anyone else could do was pray.

 

The tower count dropped to seven as Alex deactivated his first tower in the MantleCore. 

 

“I’m going to jump to the next tower right away,” he declared.

 

“Alex, I think you should wait and let the tower you’re in replenish your life points a bit more,” Rich advised. “You took major hits from that initial assault FOVOS’ creatures, just rest up for a minute.”

 

“Nein,” Alex dissented. “I can make it. I saw the other tower not far away from this one.”

 

“Alex,” Beth said. “I’m worried that you won’t make it to the other tower. FOVOS has another assault waiting for you.”

 

Alex stepped out of the tower. “Good thing that I am German,” he said, “because Germans don’t feel fear.” He swooped up on his Wings, and soared up, up to the other tower that he was assigned.

 

Beth was right; as soon as he flew up to the cliff’s edge of the tower, lasers were shot at him. Alex dodged and weaved around, confusing the creatures so that they were shooting at each other. 

 

Alex smugly watched the implosion of the creatures as they destroyed each other. He turned to enter the tower. “Told you I would make it,” he said.

 

“Alexwatchou--!”

 

Alex fell forward, devirtualizing from a Kankrelat shooting at him from behind.

 

“ALEX!” Beth shouted, standing from her seat.

 

“Shit!” Rich cursed. The video feed of the Scanner Room displayed the doors of one of the scanners opening, revealing an exhausted Alex crawling out. “Guys, we’re gonna have to switch tactics, Alex is down.”

 

“Mark, hop on the Hoverboard with Chris,” Beth commanded. “Rick, engage full shield mode on your Hover Scooter. Stay high, and move quickly. Let’s bang out these last six towers! If any more of you are taken out, I want Chris and Melissa to be the last two remaining!”

 

“You heard the lady,” Mark said, abandoning his Motorcycle to hop on the Hoverboard with Chris. “Room for one more?”

 

“Hold on to your butt,” Chris warned.

 

Before Mark could retaliate with a joke about holding on to Chris’ butt, the Hoverboard accelerated drastically.

 

_Five..._

 

“Rick and I are closing in on the next tower!” Melissa shouted. 

 

_Four…_

 

Wave after wave of Crabs chased after Mark and Chris. Mark hopped off the hoverboard to jump right on them, and stab them in their weak spots.

_Three…_

 

“Melissa, get on board with Chris!” Beth shouted. “Mark get on board with Rick, you’re the primary defense system now!”

 

_Two…_

 

Mark was down. As Melissa jumped in the next tower, a Crab took a directed shot at her from behind, and Mark jumped in the way of it, so that she could make it safely inside. He was low on life points, and that shot was enough to devirtualize him.

 

He reappeared in the Scanner Room, smacking the wall of the scanner he emerged from. He sat against the wall, waiting now.

 

One…

 

The last tower, the one where Alex was defeated. Chris and Rick moved as quickly as their vehicles would accelerate. Rick stayed a little bit behind Chris for defense purposes, but was otherwise holding nothing back.

 

“Listen,” Chris said to Melissa, who was holding him from behind. “When we get there, I want you to jump into the tower, no hesitation. Once you’re in there, the mission will be a success. Got it?”

 

Melissa nervously hummed in agreement. “Just keep me safe till I’m in there,” she said.

 

And soon, the tower was in view. This was it.

 

From above, Beth nervously held her hands over her face. Alex held her by the shoulders, more for his own comfort than for hers. Rich attentively kept an eye on Robert’s location, which remained in the North Polar Ice Sector, and glitched at tiny intervals at a time. In the Scanner Room, Mark had his fingers crossed and eyes closed.

 

Once they were close enough to the tower, Chris swerved his Hoverboard enough so that it flung Melissa right off, and pulled his shields up immediately. No chances were to be taken until she made it inside.

 

The next few seconds moved in slow motion for Melissa. She was diving head-first into this tower. She caught Chris and Rick in her periphery, defending her from the creatures that guarded the tower. Her vision changed from dark orange to cyber blue as she barrel rolled into the tower. She took a few seconds to catch her breath. She was in.

 

Chris and Rick looked behind them, and jumped for joy when they saw Melissa safely make it inside. They high-fived, not caring that the creatures took shots at them, devirtualizing them.

 

Melissa hovered to the top of the final tower, and entered the access code:

 

**CODE: MARS.**

 

She breathed a breath of relief, saying, “Tower deactivated.” Tears rolled down her cheeks.

 

There was no time for celebration yet, however, as Rich and Beth now had to spring into action.

 

“Melissa, stay inside the tower until we get Robert out, and then we can rematerialize you,” Beth commanded, frantically typing commands into the keyboard.

 

“Robert, can you hear me?” Rich asked.

 

“Yes!” Robert responded. “I’m… not sure what happened…”

 

“Just hang tight where you are,” Beth said. “We’re getting you out of there.”

 

“Location locked in in the North Polar Ice Sector,” Rich said. “Preparing to rematerialize in three, two…” Rich pressed enter, and Robert’s form disappeared from the virtual plane.

 

Rich, Beth and Alex watched the video feed of the Scanner Room nervously, waiting for Robert to appear. The doors of a scanner opened, and they all collectively took a breath of relief when he emerged from it.

 

“Melissa, on my signal, step out of the tower,” Beth said, preparing the commands for rematerialization. “Ready… and… move!”

 

Melissa popped out of the tower nervously. The creatures were still there, and each took a shot at Melissa. But before the lasers could hit her, Beth hit the Enter key for rematerialization, and her form disappeared from the virtual plane.

 

Beth, Rich, and Alex hugged each other joyfully, jumping up and down in celebration. They had done it. They… had actually done it.

 

They heard doors opening in the Scanner Room, and saw the form of Melissa exiting a scanner, and then they all scrambled to the elevator to greet everyone.

 

Downstairs turned into a cacophony of celebration. Hugs were thrown left and right. Rick hugged Alex, who dragged Rich and Beth into it. As soon as Robert and Melissa saw each other, they locked into each other’s tearful embrace. It had been too long. Months, ripped apart from each other.

 

“I’ve missed you so much,” Melissa wept into Robert’s shoulder. And the ability to feel again-- the warmth of Robert’s body against hers, the saltiness of her tears-- overwhelmed Melissa with joy.

 

And Chris and Mark, not ones to be left out of the celebration, were hugging too. And then something sparked between them as Mark brushed his head against Chris’ when they pulled away from each other. An unspoken exchanged flickered between their eyes, and then they kissed, fueled by the adrenaline of victory. They chuckled as they pulled away, the energy around them moving too fast to focus.

 

Everyone joined in one giant group hug, of which Beth was the center. The conglomerate of bodies and limbs shifted left and right. The ecstasy in the air lasted for what felt like hours. No one could blame them. Because by god, they did it.

 

\---

 

Epilogue

 

Further research on the MARS project was delayed. The original virtual plane was completely scrapped, FOVOS and all. Rich cried only a little at the death sentence of his child. Research would pick up again once it was sure that artificial intelligences could be developed without going rogue.

 

And the whole ordeal made major headlines in the science community for weeks on end. The ARES3 crew were praised for their bravery and dedication, and conversations were sparked on the ethics of developing artificial intelligence for new research endeavors.

 

Beth did vacation to Sao Paulo-- and Santiago, and Paris, and more cities, following her favorite band on tour. Moving on from her love of Melissa was difficult-- in the initial victory celebration, Melissa had hugged her, thanking Beth so much for her devotion to the project. But Beth moved on, comforted by the fact that she would find love again, a love that she could unashamedly pursue and devote herself to.

 

Chris and Mark wasted no time getting together. They could not keep their hands off of each other. Their public displays of affection were practically vomit-inducing, but they didn’t care.

 

Rick and Alex returned to their quiet lives with their wives and children. They had enough excitement for a while.

 

Melissa and Robert took some time off of research-driven work. Until the MARS project could be picked up again, there was not much else they could do. But they didn’t mind-- they deserved the relaxation.

 

Every once in awhile, the whole ARES3 crew got together to catch up. More often through Skype calls than in-the-flesh meetings did these get-togethers occur, but it was important that they made time for each other. While the ordeal that initially bonded them all together frustrated them all (and they frustrated each other), they cared for each other, forged a bond.

 

And whether it was through Christmas gift exchanges, or the occasional session of Magic: the Gathering, the gatherings were a testament to their success. They had done it. And they were grateful.

**Author's Note:**

> -dances to "Un Monde Sans Danger"-
> 
>  
> 
> [ Screech @ me on Tumblr. I'll screech back within three to five business days.](http://blackmetalbuckybarnes.tumblr.com)


End file.
